Jiuzhu waited by the window every day, and finally saw the peach blossoms bloom.
Early in the morning, she changed into the new clothes sent by the Clothing Bureau, and lay on the bed, poking Prince Chen with her hand: "Your Highness, Your Highness, it's dawn."
Prince Chen opened his eyes with difficulty, looked at the window through which only a faint ray of morning light crept in, and laid his face on the quilt.
"Your Highness, get up." Jiuzhu looked at him eagerly. Spring is here and peach blossoms are blooming. It's time to go paint.
Prince Chen pointed to his cheek and said, "I can't get up. I need a kiss from a little pig to get up."
Jiuzhu pounced on him and kissed him on the cheek: "You can get up now."
Prince Chen turned over and climbed up from the bed.
His bad temper when waking up and his tendency to stay in bed late were all changed after he married Jiuzhu.
When the eunuchs and palace maids serving in the house saw this scene, they all smiled and moved away, waiting for the prince and princess to finish packing.
There is a peach forest in the palace, but other people in the palace dare not go there casually because there is a rumor circulating in the palace that this peach forest was planted by His Majesty specially for Empress Su.
Prince Chen remembered that there was a peach forest in the palace when he was very young, and he didn't know where this rumor came from.
The palace maids and eunuchs arranged the tables, chairs, benches, pens, inkstones, and paper in the peach forest. Prince Chen glanced at Jiuzhu and asked all the palace maids and eunuchs to leave: "The prince and the princess are painting here, and we don't like others to disturb us. Please stay away."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Why do scholars think peach blossoms are frivolous and gaudy?" Jiuzhu reached out to catch a few falling peach petals: "Obviously, they are gorgeous but not vulgar, and the fruits they bear are sweet and delicious."
"Some people think lotus is bland, some people think sweet-scented osmanthus is charming, and naturally some people think peach blossoms are gorgeous." Prince Chen adjusted the ink: "People are similar to flowers. If you don't like them, you can find thousands of faults. If you like them, even shortcomings can be praised as advantages."
“The flowers just bloom there; they don’t care what people think of them.” Prince Chen did not paint peach blossoms, but a young girl. With just a few strokes, the girl had no facial features, but his love for her was already evident on the paper.
"People in the world are always arrogant, and even make up flowers, birds, insects and fish to transform into humans, and devote themselves to them." The King of Chen looked up at Jiuzhu with a smile, and drew a peach blossom on the girl's hand: "Be it a person or a flower, if you don't know how to exchange sincerity for sincerity, all you get from being arrogant is..."
He drew a picture of himself next to the girl, and the two of them stood hand in hand.
"Only nothingness." Jiuzhu added the last sentence. She put down the pen in her hand and squeezed next to him: "Your Highness, are you drawing us?"
"Yes, you and me." Prince Chen drew the peach blossom and handed her the pen: "Come, you color it."
Jiuzhu took the pen, looked at the painting carefully, and said seriously: "Your Highness's painting today is exceptionally good."
"Hmm?" Prince Chen asked with a smile, "What do you mean?"
"It's quite... vivid." Jiuzhu carefully described and colored: "I don't know how to describe it, but it just feels really good."
Prince Chen smiled, then froze. He looked at himself and Jiuzhu in the painting and immediately understood.
Jiuzhu's judgment on the quality of a painting may be different from that of many people.
She saw the emotions of the painter through the painting.
When he painted Jiuzhu, he didn't think about anything else. He just felt that such a beautiful scenery was only beautiful with her. She was already in the painting, so how could he not be by her side, so he added himself in as well.
Painting with emotion.
Was it also like those paintings she gave me in the past, capturing the most beautiful scenes and the best wishes in her heart and giving them to him?
At this moment, Prince Chen discovered that he was no different from any other ordinary person in the world. Flowers and plants don't care what people think of them, but he feels that all the beautiful flowers in the world are not as beautiful as Ming Xiaozhu's smile to him.
"I didn't know the prince and princess were painting here. I'm sorry to bother you."
Jiuzhu put the pen aside and turned to look at the person who came: "Madam Concubine."
"The peach blossom forest is painted under the rain, but it is not as beautiful as the two of them standing side by side." Concubine Zhao stroked the cat in her arms and looked at the peach forest with nostalgia: "I haven't been to this peach forest for a long time."
"Does Concubine Zhao know the origin of this peach forest?" Prince Chen brought a stool and placed it next to Concubine Zhao. Jiuzhu helped her sit down slowly.
"Of course I know." Concubine Zhao smiled and said, "Before I entered the palace, my ancestors were winemakers, and the best brew was Peach Blossom Wine. Because of my good looks, the late emperor took a fancy to me and brought me into the palace. In order to please me, the late emperor planted a field of peach blossoms here."
Jiuzhu opened her eyes wide: "This peach forest was actually planted for you by the late emperor?"
"Yes." When mentioning the late emperor, Concubine Zhao's tone was a little cold: "But the harem is not short of women. The late emperor can plant a peach forest for me, and he can also plant pear forests, apricot forests, and chrysanthemum gardens for other women."
Jiuzhu didn't see any happiness in her eyes. Perhaps even entering the palace was not what she wanted.
"Come." Concubine Zhao handed the cat to Prince Chen and gently held Jiuzhu's hand: "I'll show you something good."
"One, two...eight." Concubine Zhao took Jiuzhu and walked slowly in the peach forest until they reached the eighth peach tree. She bent down tremblingly, preparing to dig something underneath.
"Tiffany, what are you going to dig? Let me do it." Jiuzhu quickly supported her: "I am strong."
"Okay." Concubine Zhao smiled.
Prince Chen asked the palace servant to bring a shovel and stuffed the cat to Jiuzhu: "Don't let the dirt dirty your shoes and socks, I'll do it."
Concubine Zhao watched this scene with a smile, with infinite love in her eyes.
Soon, Prince Chen dug out two jars from inside.
"Wine?" Prince Chen took the jar out of the pit and turned to look at Concubine Zhao: "Is this wine brewed by Concubine Zhao?"
The concubine knelt down on her knees and brushed the dirt off the jars with her hands: "I entered the palace when I was a teenager, and these two jars of wine were brewed when I was eighteen. This year... I am over sixty years old. If I don't dig them out, I am afraid that these two jars of wine will never have a chance to be unearthed again."
There were faint tears in her cloudy old eyes: "Many, many years ago, I promised someone that I would brew two jars of wine for him personally."
"Unfortunately, he passed away when I was eighteen."
He and she were childhood sweethearts, and when she came of age, she promised to brew two jars of peach blossom wine for him, so that they could drink it together when they got married.
But she was forced into the palace by the previous emperor, and he was so heartbroken that he died of illness just three years later.
He died, her child died, and finally even her family was gone, leaving her alone to suffer in this world, with only a cat to keep her company.
If Prince Chen and Princess Chen had not returned the cat to her, she might have lost the cat as well.
"Meow." The fat cat rubbed against Jiuzhu and jumped into Concubine Zhao's arms.
Jiuzhu saw Concubine Zhao trying to stand up while holding the cat, and hurried to help her.
"Thank you, Princess." Concubine Zhao smiled at Jiuzhu and said, "If your Highness and Princess don't mind, you can take these two jars of wine back and drink them."
"May you two stay together till old age." Concubine Zhao looked at Prince Chen and said, "I will never abandon you."
"Tsarina." Jiuzhu said, "It will be Qingming Festival in a few days, I..."
"Princess." Concubine Zhao interrupted Jiuzhu with a smile: "This palace has seen many sad stories of women, and I am just an insignificant one. I am old now, and it doesn't matter whether I worship or not. It is no longer important."
She could hardly even remember the young man's appearance. She only remembered that he had a nice smile and his voice was always soft when he called her name.
"My memory has been getting worse over the past year. I'm afraid if I don't tell people about him, I'll forget about him." Concubine Zhao patted Mao'er's head and said, "Princess, please remember what I said."
"Don't sympathize with the women in the palace easily." Concubine Zhao looked back at Prince Chen who was bending over to fill the pit with soil: "Especially young and beautiful women."
Jiuzhu chuckled and shook her head, "Toffee, I don't care."
Concubine Zhao looked at her.
"Young and beautiful women are not to be feared. What is to be feared is a man's inability to be faithful." Jiuzhu picked a peach blossom and pinned it on Concubine Zhao's silver hair: "Today's Concubine is still eighteen years old."
Concubine Zhao smiled, and her smile was particularly relieved: "I have lived for more than sixty years, but I am not as good as you."
Walking to the painting table, Concubine Zhao looked at the painting on the table and said with emotion: "This painting is so beautiful. I remember that the current head of the Du family, Du Qingke, once painted peach blossoms on the spot at the palace banquet hosted by the late emperor."
"Speaking of this person, you may not be familiar with him." Concubine Zhao picked up a pen and wrote the three words "Du Qingke" on the paper: "He is the uncle of Princess Jing. When he was young, he was very good at painting and was very popular with the late emperor."
"I didn't read books when I was young, so my handwriting is a little ugly." Concubine Zhao put down her brush and said to Prince Chen who was walking over, "I'm sorry to make you laugh, my Lord and Princess."
"The Queen Mother's handwriting is very good." Prince Chen looked at the three words "Du Qingke" on the paper and bowed to her: "Thank you, Queen Mother, for the wine."
"When people get old, they don't like to move. I've sent the wine out today, and I've put my mind at ease." Concubine Zhao crumpled up the piece of paper with the three words "Du Qingke" on it and said, "I've been in this palace for more than 50 years, and I've seen too many life and death, and I've developed a disposition of not wanting to get involved. If your Highness drinks the Peach Blossom Wine and finds it tastes good, come to me and get the recipe for it."
"Thank you, Toffee."
"No need to thank me." Concubine Zhao smiled and said, "Although I am confused, I have been taken care of by you and your son for more than ten years, and I cannot forget my roots. I am old and easily tired. I should go back."
"Concubine Dowager, I'll take you there." Jiuzhu carefully supported Concubine Dowager Zhao.
"How can you disturb the princess and the prince from painting?"
"The peach blossoms will never fade in one day. If I don't paint today, there's always tomorrow." Jiuzhu smiled and said, "I can only feel at ease when I accompany you back to the palace."
"Then I'll trouble you, Princess." Concubine Zhao patted Jiuzhu's hand that was supporting her arm, and the tenderness in her eyes became even stronger.
"Meow." The fat cat seemed afraid of crushing the old concubine, so it jumped into Jiuzhu's arms again, chose a comfortable position, and lay down lazily.
The old concubine touched its head and said, "It knows who can hold it steadily."
"As expected of a cat raised by Toffee, it's really smart."
Lingzhou.
The messenger killed several horses, climbed several mountains, and walked along a narrow path for a long time before finally finding the small Taoist temple that was half hidden by big trees in the deep mountains and forests.
The Taoist temple seemed to have not been visited for a long time. It was overgrown with weeds all around, and the paint on the walls was mottled and peeling. Some weeds had firmly taken root in the rubble, dancing in the mountain breeze.
The messenger couldn't help but wonder, is it really possible for people to live in such a dilapidated Taoist temple?
What on earth was the Ming family thinking to send their own daughter to such a place?
Even if they don't starve to death, aren't they afraid that wolves, tigers and leopards will take their children away?
"I am here to deliver a letter to the master on the orders of the princess. May I ask if the master is available?"
"Who?"
The shabby wooden door of the Taoist temple opened, and a woman in a green robe walked out. The woman was neither fat nor thin, and her features were friendly, but for some reason, it was impossible to guess her age.
"I'm here to deliver a letter on the orders of the princess." The messenger stepped on the weeds, walked up to the woman, and handed her a thick envelope.
The woman looked at the letter in his hand, her eyes swept over the words "Ming Jiuzhu", and reached out to take the letter: "What else did Miss Ming say?"
"The princess said that you will understand after reading the letter." The messenger bowed and said, "I will wait for you at the foot of the mountain for two days and come to visit you again in two days."
The woman looked at him and said, "It seems that the person who was sent by the Ming family to deliver the letter in the past was not you."
"I am not from the Ming Mansion. I am delivering this letter on behalf of the princess because she has done me a favor."
The messenger knew that monks were the most naive and easy to deceive, especially those who lived in the deep mountains and forests and had no contact with outsiders.
"I see." The woman nodded: "I understand."
After the messenger left, another woman in a gray robe flew down from the tree. Without even opening the letter, she sneered, "Although the handwriting is somewhat like Jiuzhu's, when has she ever sent us a letter? Didn't she always return with a bunch of stuff in a big package?"
The woman in green robe opened the letter, and a painting fell out of it.
The women in the painting are trapped in the deep palace, crying but unable to escape. The whole painting is expressing their cry for help.
"Just this crappy painting... How dare the liar say it was painted by our Jiuzhu?" The woman in green robe was shocked.
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